Hinckley Reservoir

Sunday morning was the perfect day to get up early and catch some pre-dawn images.  I finished reading Below the Horizon by David Delnea (you can see more about the eBook here) and was inspired to drag my butt out of bed.  This book talks about light at the edges of the day.  I spend a lot of time getting photographs during this time frame but David’s book still provided me with great information.  I truly enjoy the authors and books you can find on the Craft & Vision website.

The two pictures in this post were captured only 4 minutes apart.  As the sun approaches the horizon the light is changing drastically.  You can see this in the color tone shift between the two images.  The first image is cooler in tone with blue hues being the most dominant.  The second image is starting to get warmer as more of the sunlight is crossing the horizon and lighting the sky above the reservoir.

This was another chance for me to play with my filter set.  Not only did I have the circular polarizer working for me but the first image also has the 2-stop ND graduated filter.  It is a soft edge filter which means the transition is gradual.  That zone is centered on the horizon. By using the graduated filter I was able to get a single exposure image without any areas being too dark or light.

For the second image I added a 4-stop ND filter which allowed my to get a full 1 minute exposure time.  This allowed the slow moving clouds to blur as they worked their way toward the horizon.  It also allowed me to show the slight breeze with the blurring of the lake grass as it swayed.

I’m going to keep my eyes open for more opportunities like this…  🙂

Hinckley Pre-Dawn
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 15s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 200

Hinckley on the Move
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 60s, 12mm, f/13, ISO 200